AFGHANISTAN

[s. 22] : A country of Central Asia, N. E. of India, which it separates from Ru ia and Persia. It is a mountainous country, with and deep ravines, few rivers, and a climate that presents a great variety, changing from intense cold to tropical heat. The population is estimated at about 5,000,000 Mohammedans of the Sunnite sect, divided into two cla es, Durranes and Ghilzais. They are a fierce, turbulent people, constantly at feud and difficult to govern. No mi ion work can be attempted at present in Afghanistan, but the British and Foreign Bible Society have published the New Testament, Psalms, and. historical books of the Old Testament in Pashtu, or Afghani. lofty tables AFRICA: The continent of Africa is equal in area to Europe and North America combined, comprising nearly 12,000,000 square miles. Its greatest length is 5,000 miles, and its greatest breadth, 4,600. Both tropics cro it, and the equator mtersects it a little below the center. By far the largest portion of its territory is ’ therefore intertropical. In its physical configuration Africa has been happily compared to an inverted saucer. It is rimmed on a great part of its seaboard by a narrow strip of low land; at a distance of from 50 to 200 miles from the coast the land rises rapidly to an average height of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and in some parts to lofty mountain ranges; then the whole interior is a vast table-land, sinking slightly in In this hollow lie the great lakes the middle. ^whence flow the mighty rivers that drain the whole country. These rivers are the dominating features of African geography. The problems that have chiefly concerned the explorer have been to ascertain and locate the sources and the courses of the four great streams, the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, and the Zambesi; and the triumphs of modern African exploration are almost all connected with these four names. The Nile is by far the longest of the four, having a course extending over 37° of latitude; but the Congo exceeds it in volume and in the dimensions of Of the four great lakes of what is its basin. usually called Central Africa, Victoria Nyanza and Albert Nyanza belong to the Nile system; Tanganyika belongs to that of the Congo, and Nyasa to that of the Zambesi, one of whose tributaries, the Shir6, flows out of it. I. Geographical and Political Divisions: The following table shows the divisions of Africa as constituted at the present time (1903). The proce of delimitation is still going on in northern central Africa, but by consulting the latest maps in connection with this table it will be seen that the proce of partition is practically completed. For areas, populations, mi ionary and other facts the different divisions should be studied under their respective heads. The abbreviations in parentheses after the names in the table indicate the government under whose influence or into whose po e ion the territory named has fallen, viz.: B Great Britain; F France; G Germany; I Italy; Ind Independent State; P Portugal; S Spain; T Turkey. Aby in i a (Ind). Algeria (F). — — — — — — Angola (P). Basutoland (B). Bechuanaland Protectorate (B).. British East Africa (B). Cape Colony (B). Central African Protectorate or Nyas a land (B). Congo Free State (Ind). Dahomey (F). Egypt (T& B). Egyptian Sudan (T & B). Eritrea (I). French Congo (F). French Guinea (F). French Soma lil and (F). Gambia (B). German East Africa (G). German Southwest Africa (G). Gold Coast Colony (B). Italian Soma lil and (I). Ivory Coast (F). Kamerun (G). Lagos (B). Liberia (Ind). Natal (B). Nigeria (B). Orange River Colony (B). Adabazar Africa Portuguese East Africa (P). Portuguese Guinea (P). Rhodesia (B). Rio de Oro (S). Rio Muni (S). Senegal (F). Sene gambia and Niger (F). Sierra Leone (B). Soma lil and Protectorate (B). To go land (G). Transvaal Colony (B). Tripoli (T). Tunis (F). Wadai (F). Zanzibar (B). The New International Encyclopedia gives the following approximate statistics of the division of the area and population of Africa among the various powers Pop. Area Sq. miles. Country 32,635,910 France 4,000,000 41,773,360 Great Britain 2,700,000 14,200,000 Germany 1,000,000 8,197,790 800,000 Portugal 1,300,000 400,000 Turkey 450,000 200,000 Italy 136,000 80,000 Spain first of The Exploration: II. Geographical modern travelers was Bruce, who traveled through Nubia and Aby in i a in 1768-73, and After that traced the course of the Blue Nile. the Niger was for a half century the goal of sucMungo Park reached its ce ive explorers. upper waters in 1796; Denham, Clapper ton, and Laing followed; but it was not till 1830 that Lander, sailing down the stream, discovIn 1816 ered its outlet in the Gulf of Guinea. Tuckey attempted to explore the Congo, but Africa Central fell a victim to the climate. proper still remained untouched. In 1845 Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal “Our knowledge Geographical Society, said: of Africa advances slowly, and is confined almost exclusively to the coast;” and in 1851 another “All beyorid president, Captain Smyth, said: the coast of Central and Southern Africa is still a blank in our maps.” The wonderful discoveries of the last 60 years begin with the two mi ionaries of the Church Mi ionary Society, Ludwig Krapf and John Rebmann, who were the earliest explorers of Reb Africa, from the eastern side (1844-46). mann’s discovery of Mount Kilima-Njaro, in 1848, was the first great step forward in what has been well called the Recovery of Central In the following year Living stone Africa. made his first important journey, in the far In south, and reached the small lake Ngami. 1854 Baikie took the second Niger expedition (with which was S. Crowther) up the Benu6 branch more than 600 miles from the sea; and about the same time Barth was prosecuting his extensive journeys in the Sudan and around Lake Chad. Living stone was then gaining his great reputation in the south, particularly by his journey acro Africa from Loanda to the mouth of Zambesi, by which the course of that In 1857 Burriver was determined (1854-55). ton and Speke, stimulated by the researches of Krapf and Rebmann, which had for several years pointed to a great inland sea somewhere in the interior, made their great journey from the East Coast, and in the following year discovered Lake Tanganyika and the Victoria Nyanza.: Africa In 1859 Living stone discovered Nyasa, and, not knowing mystery of the inland sea, heard of by Rebmann, had been solved, wrote home; “This (Nyasa) must be what the Church Mi ionary Society has been thinking of for many years.” (The Portuguese, however, knew of Nyasa; and Cazembe’s capital, in the heart of the lake region, had been reached by Lacerda as far back as 1798, and by Monteiro in 1831.) In 1862 Speke, on his second journey with Grant, discovered Uganda, and the outflow of the Nile from the Victoria Nyanza, and sent home his famous me age, “The Nile is settled.” Meanwhile several Egyptian officers with Pet he rick had ascended the White Nile nearly to the Albert Nyanza, which, however, was first seen by Baker in 1864. In 1866 Living stone, abandoning his southern fields, began his later travels in the lake regions, around Tanganyika, and on tliat thie what are now known to be the headquarters of The search for him, when his long the Congo. absence caused anxiety, led to Stanley’s first journey (1871), and to that of Cameron. The latter was the first to cro Africa from east to but his too southern route west (1874-75); mi ed the course of the Congo, which was determined by Stanley on his second journey This was the journey in the course in 1876-77. of which Stanley explored the Victoria Nyanza Meanwhile, the remark visited Uganda. and able explorations in the Sudan of Schweinfurth, Nachtigal (1869-74), partic(1869-71) and ularly those of the former in the territories west of the Upper White Nile, revealed to the world countries and peoples utterly unknown before, notably the Monbuttu and Nyam-Nyam districts and races. The Congo particularly, within eight years of the discovery of its course, became a com para The vast territories tively familiar stream. drained by it have, by European treaty, been formed (so far as commerce is concerned) into a Congo Free State. Among the events and ongoings that in more recent years have contributed to the enlargement of our knowledge of Africa, may be mentioned the protectorate practically a umed over Egypt by Great Britain since 1883, the long continued troubles in the Sudan, and especially events that culminated in the overthroAv of the Orange Free, State and the South African Republic, and reduced them to British colonies. To these happenings should be added the activity manifested by Great Britain in pushing its African railway enterprises, aided by some other powers, a proce that promises to bring into railway connection with the whole world the entire east coast and the eastern portion of the continent. The more recent explorations have been undertaken le to discover new regions than to increase our knowledge of regions already reached. The best known of the expeditions since 1885 was that of Stanley, undertaken to discover tlie fate or whereabouts of Emin Pasha This went up the Congo, traversed (Snitzer). the vast forests of equatorial Africa, and cro ed In 1899 an expedition led by into Zanzibar. E. S. Grogan and Arthur Sharp cro ed the continent from north to south, investigating the feasibility of a “Cape to Cairo” railroad, and making many valuable discoveries. Donald son Smith explored Soma lil and with good results, Foureau cro ed the Sahara to the Congo, and March and made his memorable “mi ion” to Fashoda The future exp lor with in the period named. ation of the continent will certainly be conducted from motives chiefly commercial and m a scientific manner, a uring to the next generation a knowledge of this vast continent as accurate and full as that which we now have of the better known regions of the earth. ///. Races and Languages of Africa: The mi ionary problem of this vast “dark continent is intimately related to the character of the races and languages found within its boundaries. The population of Africa is estimated by the more recent authorities at 175,000,000, or about one-eighth of the entire population of the earth. Deniker, in his”Races of Men” (London, 1900), gives a complete cla ification of the African races from which we derive the following abstract This 1. Arabo- Berber, or Semito- Hamites: stock is found in N. Africa to as far as 15° S. lat. It includes about three-fourths of the so-called Arabs of N. Africa, who in fact are Berbers speaking Arabic. There are four sub-races (1) Djerbas, the Berbers of the Tunisian coast (2) the Elles type, of Central Tunis, (3) the present Berber type of Algeria-Tunisia, and (4) the Jerid or Oasis type. The Fellahin of the Nile valley below the first cataract belong to this stock. The ancient Egyptian language preserved as the Coptic dialect is spoken by about 500,000 to 750,000 Berbers, and the Arabo-Berber tribes of the Nile valley between the first and fourth cataract number about 190,000. 2. Ethiopians, or Kushito- Hamites, or Nubians: This stock inhabits N. E. Africa from the 25th They occupy the deg. to the 4th deg. S. lat. coast of the Red Sea, and of the Indian Ocean from the Gulf of Aden to Madisha. The principal divisions of this stock are (1) Nubians, speaking the Am haring a and Tigrenga dialects, (2) the Gallas, or Oroma, who are nearly pure Ethiopians, (3) the Somalis, who are Gallas mixed with an Arab stock, and (4) the Afari, or Danakil. 3. Fulah-Zandeh Group: This comprises a whole series of populations of mixed Ethiopians and Nigritians, extending in a belt five or six degrees wide acro the continent, including with many other tribes, the Masai, of the eastern section, the Nyam-Nyam, or Zandeh, and on the more westerly side, the Fulah-Zandeh. 4. Nigritians: These comprise all the negro populations that do not speak the Bantu dialects, and which are conveniently divided into four sections, viz: those of the Eastern, Central and Western Sudan, and the coast of Guinea, embracing many tribes and subdialects. 5. Negrilloes: These are a stock of pigmies, extending in a belt reaching in general three degrees on either side of the equator entirely acro Africa. 6. Bantu Group: This group embraces numerous peoples of Central and S. Africa, whose dialects form the Bantu linguistic family, distinct from the Nigritian. They are conveniently divided Western, Eastern and Southern sections, embracing many tribes and families. To the southern section of this group belong the well known Zulu tribes. 7. Bushmen- Hottentots: A people reduced by the more warlike Bantu tribes to a few you sand into families, many of them nomads and forest hunters. The ethnological divisions have not been easy to fix, but the best authorities are fairly agreed in arranging them by language, and the linguistic grouping has made such progre of late years that the above may be taken to be a fairly consistent outline grouping of the races of the continent. IV. Religions of Africa: The mi ionary to Africa has the task of making himself acquainted with a greater variety of religious customs and superstitions than can be found in any other These religions are characquarter of the world. terized in general by a belief in some sort of surpeme being, in many quarters by the worship of ancestors, somewhat as in China, by Fetishism with its priests, sorcerers and groveling rites, and by superstitious fears, incantations, charms and barbaric ceremonials. Idolatry, in the sense of the making and worshiping of images, is not so widely diffused as might be supposed. There is nothing in Africa like the elaborate Hideous idols are common among the West African Negroes; but in Central Africa, so far as is known, none are to be But what is called fetish worship is uni found. versal. A fetish is a charm; and almost any a tree, a stick, a stone, a shell, a plant, object the limb of an animal, a ve el filled with some strange compound in fact, anything whatever may have power imparted to it by certain medicine-men power to preserve the owner or bearer from danger, or power to injure his enemies. image-worship of India. — — — Particular fetishes fulfil particular purposes. All these native religions may be comprised under the term pagan. Of the pagans on the entire globe, six-sevenths are in Africa, which is Of therefore emphatically the pagan continent. the imported religions of Africa the leading rep reCarried in the sentative is Mohammedanism. and sword over North two centuries, advanced its borders considerably, and now prevails widely in both the Western and Eastern Sudan, in West Africa and along the east coast, and its mi ionaries are more or le actively 7th century by fire Africa, this faith has, in the last spreading their faith among the populations of Central Africa. The Christian populations of Africa comprise the Copts, descendants of the Monophysites of the 5th century, numbering about 750,000; the Aby in i ans, whose ecclesiastical system depends upon that of the Coptic Church; Roman Catholics who have had mi ionaries in Africa continuously since the 16th century, and now aggregate about 2,450,000; and Protestants, numbering about 3,250,000, including the English and Dutch of South Africa. Hindus, chiefly dwelling on the east coast of the continent, number about 250,000 in Africa; and according to varying estimates there are from 550,000 to 750,000 Jews, chiefly on the Mediterranean coast. V. Mi ionary Work in Africa, General View: The first Protestants to undertake evangelizing work in Africa were the Moravians, who began in 1792. Since that time nearly every Protestant denomination has undertaken mi ionary work For in some part of the “dark continent.” details of this work the reader should consult the articles upon the political and territorial divisions of the continent, and particularly the statistical tables found in the Appendix to this work. Statistics naturally take no account of the number of Christian men and women in great Africa Africa not directly related to mi ions, but who exercise evangelizing influences in innumerable ways. The established and self-supporting churches are naturally evangelizing agencies, and it is farther to be considered that very much work by Christians cannot be identified nor reduced to statistical form. Obstacles and Difficulties encountered in Mi ionary Work in Africa: These are many, but not insurmountable. The first is the climate of many parts to which mi ionaries have undertaken to go. This is deadly to mo.st Europe ans or Americans who spend any time on the coast or in the lowlands. The vast number of languages spoken by the 175,000,000 or more of the inhabitants of Africa is a very serious obstacle to mi ionary labor. Nowhere is a universal speech more of a desideratum. Slavery and the appearance of the Arab slave are still real terrors in many regions, and sadly interfere with the progre of the Gospel; but there is reason to hope that this great crime against humanity is permanently under restraint, so that its vitality will steadily fail. The traffic in liquor is another obstacle to the mi ionary enterprise and the spread of the Gospel, particularly on the west coast of Africa. Steps have been taken to limit this evil. Other difficulties and problems that confront the mi ionary in Africa can be only mentioned. The brutal animal nature of the natives in many regions makes the instilling of a pure religion seem nearly impo ible. Polygamy and the degradation of women to the level of mere The influence beasts are facts to be counted on. of the sorcerer and wizard, based on the nearly universal belief in evil spirits, is encountered everywhere, and such men are the natural enemies of the mi ionary because they are the The greed of religious leaders of their tribes. commercial enterprise, resulting in age-long abuse of the natives, who have been wronged by the white man since the earliest times, also weighs in some parts of the continent to make entrance into the confidence of the African people more trader difficult. Neverthele , most Africans are hospitable to the foreigner, naturally docile under the influence of stronger minds, and especially curious and eager to learn new things. In this latter trait they are far more easily reached than are the Chinese with their fixed and retrogre ive temperament. The Africans, moreover, are not naturally atheistic, and have many ideas and beliefs that prepare them to believe the Gospel. A history that shows individual Africans, like Bishop C^owther of Yorubaland, or national development, as in Uganda, promises like fruit from Christian teaching elsewhere. Keane, Africa (Stanford’s Compendium of Geography and London, 1895; White, Development of Africa, London, 1892; Brown, Story of Africa and lis Explorers, London, 1892-95; Keltie, The Partition of Africa, London, Travel), 1895; Johnston, History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races, Cambridge, 1899; Living stone, Mi ionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, New York, 1858; Last Journals of David Living stone in Central Africa, London, 1874; Cameron, Acro Africa, New York, 1877; Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, New York, 1878; Drummond, Tropical Africa, ^ ew York, 1888; Stanley, Jn Darkest Africa, New York, 1890; Johnston, Living stone, and the Exploration of Central Africa, London, 1891 Bryce, Impre ions of South Africa, New York, 1897; Lloyd, In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country, London, 1899. AFRICA, German East. Africa. See German East Africa Aim of Christian AFRICA, German Southwest. Southwest Afhica. AFRICAN CHURCH METHODIST See German EPISCOPAL Parent Home and Foreign Mi ionary Society of the, (1847): The foreign mi ion work of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is found in Africa, South America, West Indies and Hawaii. The first foreign field of the church was Haiti (1824), where the society now reports 10 stations and 2,000 adherents. In British Guiana it reports 20 stations and 5,000 ad15 mi ionaries in the herents. It reports Windward Islands, and 3 mi ionaries in Cuba.; Its mi ions in Africa include stations in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Lagos Colony (on the West coast of the continent) in Cape Colony in South Africa, extending northward as far as Northern Rhodesia. In Africa it reports altogether 300 preachers and a membership of 11,000. The origin of the work of this organization in South Africa was the withdrawal, in 1894-95, of a number of native church members from the churches in the Transvaal. The seoeders, WMS formed a new body which adopted the name, “Ethiopian Church.” The movement was in some measure a protest against a color line in the churches of Africa. In 1896 the Ethiopian church with the united African Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, and the movement spreading with some energy among native is churches in Africa. The Woman’s Parent Mite Mi ionary Society (1872), and the Woman’s Home and Foreign Mi ionary Society (1892), are auxiharies, the last named having its chief support in the The headquarters of the Southern States. society are: 61 Bible House, New York City. Organ Voice of Mi ions. She was the first unmarried woman sent as a mi ionary to Ceylon, and for forty years she was the efficient principal of the girls’ school at Oodooville. In June, 1883, Mi Agnew received a paralytic shock, and during the same month she pa ed into her heavenly rest. 26